“The recent two day test we did was performed without complications and I am happy with the way the Skoda Fabia WRC is set up. The result of the test itself will of course be proven by the rally itself.”
Other than that, in addition to the 19 drivers’ competing in the Junior RC category, over 25 runners will battle it out for the Group N honours including
Red Bull Rallye team boss, Raimund Baumschlager.
Route:
The route has undergone major changes from 2006. The single service park moves back to Trier's Messepark, last used in 2002. Associated with this is a super special stage midway through Sunday's final leg based around the city's historic Porta Nigra, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Four cars will race around the course at the same time, starting at 15-second intervals. This stage will replace the traditional street test in St Wendel.
There is also a greater emphasis on the vineyard stages alongside the Mosel river with the first and last legs based there. As a result there are fewer public road tests in the Saarland region.
After a ceremonial start at Porta Nigra on Thursday night and Friday's opening day in the Mosel, Saturday's leg is the longest of all. It is split between tests in Saarland and Baumholder, covering 164.86km with two remote service zones in Konken.
Drivers tackle 19 stages in total, of which only the super special is used once, covering 356.27km in a route of 1227.04km.
Last year:
Sebastien Loeb won the Rallye Deutschland in 2006 - to take his fifth win in succession on the event. He led from the off and eventually finished around 30 seconds up on Dani Sordo.
Marcus Gronholm took the final place on the podium, albeit more than 2 minutes off Seb, while
Toni Gardemeister, Manfred Stohl and Andreas Aigner rounded out the top six.
Jan Kopecky and
Chris Atkinson came in seventh and eighth, while Kris Meeke took the Junior win in his C2 S1600.
A number of drivers’ had problems during the event and retired, most noticeably
Petter Solberg (engine),
Francois Duval (accident),
Mikko Hirvonen (battery) and Stephane Sarrazin (gearbox).
